Teasing some low end finds from a show

At the recent card show date I was at, I stumbled upon a seller who had quarter bins set out from a bigger card show I went to over the summer - I had to stop digging around then, since I didn’t have loose dollar bills in-hand to pay for smaller, rinky-dink purchases.

I remembering leaving a copy of a 1991 Topps Archives The Ultimate 1953 Set Eleanor Engle #332 - a card I could have instantly made a keeper for curiosity sake, where it pictured a woman who once signed a pro contract in baseball.

Go figure I did find a copy of the Engle card somewhere, so I wasn't about to look for now - though the seller had some newer, current year material this time around, thumbing through the junk wax era material time forgot ends up being an exercise in futility.

As is, finding a 1992 Allan Kaye's Sports Cards News Magazine Multi-Sport Jim Abbott #23 oddball was an excuse - to see if I could find enough cards to make at least a $5.00 purchase.

Maybe it's about trying to fill idle time while at a card show, but despite the relative quality of any particular box or price point - I'll be digging and digging, where after finding that one card, it's like a challenge to put together a 'lil keeper stack.

1990 Eclipse Stars of the Negro Leagues Oliver Marcelle #17 - it may not be a comprehensive thing that really gets off the ground, but I might be looking to build a loose card project dedicated to Negro League players.

1990 Eclipse Stars of the Negro Leagues Sammy Hughes #35 - I'll pat myself on the back for making a couple of oddball box set cards dedicated to the Negro Leagues keepers.

1995-96 Skybox Premium Dell Curry #12 - x2; Michael Jordan (in Background)

I don't know what compelled me to move over to the other sport portion of the quarter boxes put out - but it paid off when I found a copy of this card.

Regardless of value and the idea I could go into eBay or other online source to pick up one lousy copy - this became one of those scratch the itch cards in recent years.

I ended up finding one more copy and made both keepers since I could not believe I found it like I did - it's fun when a card in my memory banks somewhere as a 'want' could be found just sitting in some quarter box at a card show.

1993-94 Topps Stadium Club Frequent Flyers Dan Majerle #353 - Michael Jordan (in Background)

This find wasn't on the same level as finding the Curry - but it was also a card I was aware of where Jordan makes a cameo.

I do not not want the countless basic Michael Jordan cards printed over the decades - I just want the ones where he is making cameos on other players' cards.

1992 Allan Kaye's Sports Cards News Magazine Multi-Sport Fred McGriff #54 - I made this a keeper since this was the other star baseball player card I found from the same oddball set as the Abbott.

1988 Donruss Baseball's Best Jose Canseco #22 - as it was once intended to capitalize on collector's interests, I find myself gravitating towards cards from junk wax era releases that ended up being a little different than your flagship Topps, Donruss, Fleer, Score and eventually Upper Deck products.

1993 Cartwrights Magazine Aces Kirby Puckett #10 - if I can find them in the wild, I maybe more open to making oddballs like this one keepers, to supplant the other cards of players in my decade / binder stars collections.

2020 Negro Leagues Legends set

I picked up this 184-card set featuring retired and long deceased players from the Negro Leagues after seeing it on a couple of other card blogs [#1, #2] and maybe on Twitter - a retro themed non MLB card set may not be my cup of tea, but this was one of those purchases to make my collection a little bit more well rounded and in my mind, makes me more of a ‘true collector’ than someone always looking ‘here and now’ purchase.

A narrative maybe about how the card set might be good display in plastic sheets and flip through like a book - an actual book about the Negro Leagues might be cheaper, but I’m still a card collector.

After making an order through the Negro Leagues History Website, I got my cards in about 5 days and to give me something to do for a little bit in the afternoon, I committed to displaying the 184-card set in plastic sheets - I just had enough pages [21] to use and bought a new binder at a Target since I didn't have a spare handy.

I was worried about leaving some empty spots in the last page - but there were a couple of information cards enclosed as well as advertising cards from memorabilia dealers.

Keeping the set sealed might have been an option, but it feels odd not to get a feel of the cards in-hand for the $70 I spent [including s/h] - the cards look fairly nice, with a little high brow feel without really being so.

Out of the box, the condition of the cards were pretty good - though the thin, matte cardboard the cards are printed on might be a little fragile when handled loosely.

Considering the cards I may need for various loose card projects, breaking down this set might have been an option - but I typically like to leave something I bought as a set together rather than funnel cards into 100 different places only to have some leftover cards making up a loose, incomplete set.